Kiwi Country Fast Food

This is one of my favourite places to go in town. But not everyone likes this place – especially my work colleagues. Perhaps it’s the deep fried part of the dish. I am cutting down, I hope.

Kiwi Country Fast Food is located right next to BBQ King (on the corner of Queen St and Durham Lane).  It’s not on the ground level, but at basement level. So it can be hard to spot.

Chicken Chop, Tofu and Vegetable on Rice ($10.50).

Herb and Spicy Chicken on Rice ($9.50).

My favourite would have to be the Herb & Spicy Chicken. The curry sauce has some addictive elements that I can’t get enough of (MSG?).  The pricing of the dishes are very reasonable and food is served quite quickly. The taste is pretty good, but again, it is different for other people (i.e. my work colleagues). Dishes are served with a side of vegetables – which is not bad. But try to avoid eating the deep friend chicken – not great for your health.

I will be bias, because I quite like this place. Rating = 9/10. Great price and great food. At least try it once.

Golden Ducks Charcoal Roast

Just a quick post. If you want some duck, roast pork etc, this guy has it. He’s located at the Newmarket asian corridor, whatever they call it these days. It’s opposite the food court, same row as the meat shop and bakery.

Roast Duck ($19/half).

The above is their normal roast duck (half), it’s not bad. For a full duck, I think it’s $36. Apparently, this shop is the only shop that does the charcoal peking duck. I don’t have a picture of it, but it’s pretty good. The guy gives you the duck bones and you can do anything you want with it. But the guy recommends you cook congee with it. The charcoal peking duck is $40 for a full duck, $3 for the pancakes and $1 for the Hoisin sauce.

Just for the Peking duck – it’s pretty good. The guy is friendly too. Rating = 8/10.

The Happy House Restaurant

Thanks to a special reader for recommending this place – Happy House Restaurant in Northcote. It’s right next to the Tofu Shop. I don’t normally venture across the bridge – it’s actually quite a rare occassion, but apparently I do know people who live there. So once in a while, I make the trip across and combine it with a feed. I have to admit, Happy House is in a great location, it has lots of eateries and shops, and parking is damn easy to find. I think Happy House opens late – which is a good thing. Below are samples I tried:

Fried Pancake with Char Siew – $9.50.

Fried Pancake with Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce – $9.50

Sichuan Fried Rice – $8.

Fried Cumin Lamb – $15.50.

I like this place. Food is cheap and the portion is generous. The dishes are really nice, especially the fried pancake with shredded pork and friend cumin lamb. A great recommendation from one of our readers. I’ve been here twice, and I’ve had to ask for a takeaway box. Great value.

Rating = 9/10.

Happy Hour

It surprises me places like Happy Hour exists. It’s located in a building that looks like a trailer, the door slides funny and there’s no toilet. But I have to admit, the food is top notch. I got recommended this place by a work colleague (and now friend). It’s exact address is 947 New North Road. I’ve been here many times, and here are some of the samples:

Steam Chicken with Chinese Mushroom on Rice (Small Size = $8.50).

Happy Hour – Steam Chicken with Red Dates and Kei Chee on Rice (Big Size = $10.50).

Steam Pork Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce on Rice (Big Size = $10.00).

Crispy Chicken.

Tofu Dessert (Small Size = $3.00).

Stew Long Yan, Red Date and Egg with Rock Sugar ($6.00).

Tofu Dessert ($4.00).

To be honest, I think Happy Hour’s prices are fantastically value for money, and taste wise it’s great. There are so many options from steam chicken and pork dishes to desserts and snacks. The service is great, in fact, I believe they serve the tea quite quickly. Parking is quite easy to find. It’d be great if you can speak Chinese, but don’t be intimidated, they have an English menu (with pictures), it’s just unfortunate the specials are in Chinese. =)

I quite like the place, and recently, have been a regular visitor. My rating 9/10.

 

Wagamama (Sylvia Park)

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I popped into Wagamama Sylvia Park the other night while waiting to watch a movie. From the outside it looked like a nice place to eat as I’ve been there before, and I think I had fond memories.

Samples I had below:

Chicken Katsu Curry ($17.50).

Chilli Ramen with Sirloin Steak ($24.50).

Overall, it’s quite average and too pricey. I guess the place does suit some people (apparently it’s fusion) and it’s popular. But I can find better tasting and seriously cheaper Japanese out there.

My apologies to all Wagamama fans, I don’t get this place. Rating 5/10.

Momo Tea House

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Meadowlands. Maybe my behaviour is now different after not having a company car =). But thanks to a good friend, I’ve paid a visit to this place by recommendation – Momo Tea House. There’s obviously a couple branches, Birkenhead and Mt Albert.

This one at Meadowlands is a former KFC I believe, and it’s got a defunct drive-thru. Parking is easy and free, and environment of the place is great. Maybe it was good old furniture from KFC?

Anyway, I sampled some dishes, see below:

Fried Black Pepper Chicken Chop and Eel on Rice ($12).

Spicy Wonton Noodle Soup ($6).

Deep Fried Salty Chicken ($7).

Taro Pearl Milk Tea ($6).

Overall, food’s taste is great, no disappointment at all. The prices are very reasonable. There is a variety of food and drink (I think there’s a Malaysian section). Also, the place opens very late, I am not sure what time, but from what I remember, after midnight!! So a great place for supper.

Rating = 9/10. Fantastic!

Bing’s Authentic Malaysian Restaurant & Cafe

This is a strange place to find a Malaysian restaurant. It’s located in the Auckland Hotel on Hobson St. It’s almost impossible to find, in fact, it was a work colleague who told me about this place. I’m surprised how they manage to put a place like this in a hotel, but I guess it must work for both parties. The environment is a bit strange. The pricing of the meals are above average, all above $10 if I can recall, but the portion is huge.

Char Kuey Teow.

Wat Tan Hor.

Mee Goreng.

It’s not a bad place, the meals aren’t the best I’ve tasted. The portion is huge but that’s reflected on the pricing. The staff is friendly, but the environment is a bit different.  My rating is 7.5/10. It’s a good place for a Malaysian food if you want portion, and if you’re in the vicinity of the Auckland Hotel.

QQ Rice

QQ Rice sells assorted rice rolls. They used to have a shop on Dominion Road, but I think that closed. They now only have one shop in the city (on Wellesley St). It’s quite a good place to experiment with because you’ll be blown away by the choices you have to make. It’s good if you’re a fan of rice. However, sometimes, choices are better left as little as possible, but not for QQ Rice. I wasn’t sure how much the rolls are, maybe $6 each? They also added a few other additional dish types, such as a the lunch box, QQ wrap and dessert.

Assorted Rice Roll.

It’s not a bad place – worth a try. Make sure you don’t spill the filling and rice when eating the rice roll. Just be prepared for the choices!

Oh Calcutta

It’s not very often I go to Indian restaurants, especially for “fine dining”. So, this was a treat for me. Also, I’ve always wanted to try the place out as I drove or walked past it many times. Oh Calcutta is based in Parnell, very near Movenpick and parking isn’t too difficult to find if you know your way around the narrow back streets. I tried a variety of the food – see below.

Complimentary Papadums.

Oh Calcutta Mix Platter.

Dipping Sauce for Mix Platter.

Punjabi Saag Ghosht.

Prawn Malabari Curry.

Garlic Naan Bread.

I’d say before you go to this place, it’s not the standard foodcourt Indian and the environment is totally different. Therefore, be prepared to pay for higher than usual prices. Thank goodness I had my Entertainment card to soothe the pain. 🙂

There was free Papadums when I was initially seated and I noticed the waiters were quite friendly. For the entre, I asked for the mixed platter which is $9 per person, very good I think and I get to try almost everything in the entre menu. I also ordered the Mango lassi and it’s not for the faint-hearted, it’s sweet and thick. I wasn’t sure how much it was, probably like $6. The mains we had were the Punjabi Saag Ghosht, $22 and the Prawn Malabari Curry, $23. A garlic naan bread was ordered as a side, $4. The rice came along with the food for no charge (I think), and I didn’t manage to finish the rice.

Overall,  I quite like the place. Although I have to admit the inside was a bit too dark for my liking. Perhaps some dimmed lights might have helped. The service was acceptable. The price was reasonable. The quality of the food were very good especially the entre. I wasn’t disappointed at all, only except the fact that I couldn’t finish everything. Personally, I think it’s worth a try if you’re bringing your partner to Parnell for a romantic dinner, and all you can think of is Indian food!

My rating, 9/10. Good food. No complaints.

Eiji Japanese Cuisine

My first post for the year. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

I went to Eiji for lunch with a couple of friends sometime before Christmas. I didn’t even know this place existed especially in the suburbs (St Heliers). I guess you have to be living around there.

Unagi Kabayaki Bento.

Zangi Don.

Salad Side.

First of all the service is great, I guess Japanese restaurant staff tend to be more friendly. The food is quite good, although the price is a bit on the high side, we had the Entertainment card to reduce some of the costs.

The bento costs $22 and the don $14, which is quite reasonable. Although I have to admit, realistically it will be difficult for most people to go to Eiji as it is not “centralised”. But it’s worth a try especially if you’re at the beach in Mission Bay, or have friends / relatives in that area.

My rating is a favourable 8.5/10. Very good.

Sri Mahkota

This is a quick one for the month. I have a few in the pipeline, but haven’t uploaded pics and stuff. I was recommended to Sri Mahkota by one of the readers. First impression when I was there, a lot of people so it must be good! This was lunchtime in the weekend. It’s a small place, located in the industrial area of East Tamaki (ish). The food they sell is pretty much the standard Malaysian dish. However, I realised the fish head soup was quite popular – I see lots of big bowls.

However, keeping to my conservative side, I chose the same ol’ stuff. Samples below:

Char Kuey Teow.

Nasi Lemak.

Curry Puff.

To be honest, I didn’t come out of Sri Mahkota with a “wow” and I forgot how much each dish was! But the dishes above wasn’t anything special (sorry). The food isn’t horrible, but not something I’d drive 10-15 mins for and wait outside. Perhaps the dish above is too common / bland.

My rating is a 7.5/10.

The Don

When you mix cheese with Japanese food, it’s surprisingly good. The Don is one place I’ve noticed using this technique (there’s probably more of this and people need to tell me!). The Don is located on High Street and has been highly recommended in other blogs. I’ve been here a few times and have taken a fair amount of photos. Here goes:

Chicken Namban Don.

Pork Cheese Katsu Don.

Pork Katsu Don.

Soy Sauce Braised Beef Udon.

Prawn Cheese.

Beef Cheese Roll.

To save writing up prices of the meals that will certainly confuse you all; the meals costs $11 or $11.50, the Pork Katsu Don and Beef Udon at the higher end. The side dishes (tapas) such as the Prawn Cheese and Beef Cheese Roll cost $7 and $6.50 respectively. So expect to pay around that per side dish, which isn’t too bad. Oh, they’re only available after 5pm.

Overall, I’m impressed with the dishes. No disappointment on my visits there and environment is good for a quiet meal. The pricing and quality of the dishes are above average with just the right amount of variety. My rating is 8.5/10. The cheese can be overwhelming (and I believe fattening). A must try though. =)